1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to dispensers for discharging volatile materials from a container and methods for operating same.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
Diffusion devices or dispensers are used to dispense volatile materials, such as perfumes, deodorizers, insecticides, insect repellants, and the like. Many such devices are passive diffusion devices that require only ambient air flow to dispense the volatile material, while other devices are active diffusion devices. Active diffusion devices are found in a variety of forms, some include fans and/or heaters to aid in the dispersal of volatile materials, others actuate a valve stem of an aerosol container to dispense a volatile material contained therein, still others utilize an ultrasonic transducer to break up a liquid volatile material into droplets that are ejected from the device, and yet others include any combination of the above or any other known type of active diffusion device. Various examples of such devices can be found in Helf et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/401,572, Beland et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/801,554, Helf et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,456, Helf et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,476, Helf et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,489, Helf et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,532, Sipinski et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/080,336, Sipinski et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/157,705, Pedrotti et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,754, and Schwarz U.S. Pat. No. 7,540,473, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Further, some active diffusion devices include a sensor to detect motion or light in a space, wherein such devices dispense a volatile material in response to signals from the sensor.
Early diffusion devices that included sensors were developed to operate according to predefined operating methodologies for use in such places as restrooms to dispense perfumes or deodorizers to combat malodors. However, when a need arose for diffusion devices to be used in other environments, e.g., a living room, an office space, a factory floor, an outdoor area, etc., prior art devices that were developed for use in restrooms were found to lack the versatility necessary to be utilized in new environments. Consequently, a need has arisen for dispensers to provide an improved user experience and to enable a user to control the diffusion of a fragrance in different environments. The present disclosure relates to solutions to address such needs.